Bamboo and Hosta raised beds - Building brick raised beds

Garden transformation Part 7 – Raised shady beds

A month after moving in, we’d taken out some unruly overgrown conifers. There was a beautiful old sandstone wall hidden behind the conifers but it wasn’t high enough. We needed to put something back in their place to give us privacy from a house at the back.

As we’d had a raised bed with bamboo growing in it at our last house, we thought of it straight away. It’s a perfect screen as its evergreen, but somehow feels light and airy not heavy and overbearing. I love how it sounds and how delicate it looks as it moves in the wind.

The cats loved the raised bed at our old house

October 2013

We made a start on the first small piece of boundary wall. Taking out what was left of a fence under all the foliage.

We dug and concreted the foundations for the wall, which created a corner. This allowed us to do the same for the raised bed.

It was pushing our luck to still be building at this time of year, it was cold, damp and went dark far too early!

As the nights drew in more, we resorted to concreting in the dark with a flood light.

Raised bed foundations, not the neatest!

As I started to build the small section of boundary wall, I tied the bamboo bed into it for strength.

First few rows of boundary wall and bamboo bed

November 2013

Despite descending into winter we managed to finish the first section of boundary wall and three quarters of the bamboo bed. The weather closed in, building work stopped and we turned our attention to more foliage chopping.

March 2014

Having had the winter looking out at the partially built bamboo bed. I realised it needed to be extended, to form an end to what would become the woodland border and generally look more balnced. Sometimes it’s good to stop, step back and take stock.

We popped a few more foundations in and extended it by around a meter.

The challenge then, was to fill it with rather a lot of soil. As we were already digging the foundations for boundary walls, on the right and left side of the garden simultaneously, there was no shortage of soil. But! As I have already mentioned and will continue to moan about, our soil is VERY stony and so all has to be riddled. As usual since moving here, there simply weren’t enough hours in the day!

Once it was filled with our sieved soil, we were ready to get planting.

Choosing a bamboo

We found a fabulous nursery online specialising in bamboo called, Jungle Giants. Their website was full of useful information, it gave you all the specifications on size and habit. When I phoned up to ask some questions, nothing was too much trouble.

Michael Brisbane who started jungle giants, was even involved in sourcing bamboos in Indonesia for The Eden Project, so quite an expert.

Sadly Jungle giants were taken over by Bowdens (Hosta experts) in 2015. Luckily Bowden’s are another fabulous family run mail order company, with an excellent reputation and numerous Chelsea gold medals. You can still find the perfect bamboo for you.

To decide what height of bamboo we needed I stood in the kitchen window, whilst my husband stood on the raised bed holding a long wooden baton up in the air. He moved it higher and lower to my hand gesturing. When the desired height was achieved, I rushed out with the tape measure. This is one of the many occasions we hoped no neighbours could see us.

Once we’d worked out what height we needed, we decided on Fargesia nitida ‘Jiuzhaigou’. The new canes come through purple, then mature to a rich golden colour, that looks fabulous when the sun shines on it. It has small delicate leaves that catch every breath of air. As it has matured, it arches over looking stunning.

Planting

12^th April 2014 The bamboo arrived and we finally got it planted. This was quite momentous, as they were the first decorative plants to go into the garden.

It’s amazing looking back at these photos how small the plants were. It’s grown so quickly and thickened into a wonderful screen. It’s just the right height thanks to our long baton antics.

There is only one down side, we can no longer see the beautiful old wall.

I sit on the bed for hours every spring picking the new growth off the lower part of the canes. This is a marmite job, I feel most people would probably hate it but I find it incredibly therapeutic and quite addictive.

Raised Hosta Bed – April 2015

After finishing the first proper section of the shady wall in April 2015 – part of the boundary on the right hand side near to the house. We decided to build a second raised bed in front of it. This would join up to the bamboo bed, making a nice corner area on the patio.

Planting the bed

This raised bed is in front of a north facing wall. Making it the perfect place to plant the shade loving ferns and hostas we’d brought with us from our previous garden.

In order to get a little colour in with all the greenery, I’ve planted double pink aquilegia, sometimes known as grannies bonnets. These were already here growing in the garden.

Also snakes head fritillary bulbs – ‘Fritillaria meleagris‘ . You only seem to be able to buy mixed purple and white fritillaries. Meaning every time a white one comes up, I dig it up and whip it off to the white garden. And via versa when a purple one pops up in the white garden, its whipped off to the hosta bed.

A rogue purple fritillary in the white garden (not for long).

Snake’s head fritillary – ‘Fritillaria meleagris’

I’ve also planted Lilly of the valley – ‘Convallaria majalis‘ for scent. This batch originated in my Grans garden, via my mums garden. My Gran sadly died when I was only three, but I still have a birthday card for my 2nd birthday from her, it reads “to my Tom boy granddaughter” I love the fact that I was already showing these traits at two!

Lilly of the valley. Taken this week, ready to burst into flower

I initially planted a couple of heucheras in the bed but the hostas and ferns soon smothered them and they had to be rescued and moved to a new home.

Our Giant Hosta

We went off to our local salvage yard to buy the quarry tiles to top off the beds. I love it there, especially because she always has a few plants for sale. I couldn’t resist buying another hosta. To our amazement it has turned out to be the most impressive hosta in the bed. Unfortunately I never made a note of the name and the label is long since gone. It has turned out to be enormous, the leaves measuring 16“ across.

In 2019 a friend that has a large hosta collection was admiring our extra-large chappy. So after flowering last year I kept some seeds. As I write this, the first two tiny seedlings are poking through. This never ceases to delight and amaze me.

I know it may not come true from seed but it will be interesting.

If anyone recognises this hosta, I would love to hear from you.

Keeping the slugs at bay

As I garden 99% organically, never using slug pellets or any other pesticides (just weed killer very occasionally). I try and stop my hosta’s being ravaged by slugs using biological means. Firstly our pond supplies frogs every year, that are little slug eating machines. I also buy nematodes called Nemaslug at the beginning of the growing season, a natural organic pest control.

These two things aren’t fool proof and by the end of the season there is evidence of slug damage, but I’m quite happy to share a little. After all the slugs provide food for the frogs and birds in the garden, that give me so much pleasure. It’s a balance!

May 2021

Our patio area is still not completed, but it’s been perfectly useable with a concrete base waiting for it’s topping. Although this year as we start on the house alterations, it has become a bit of a builder yard! It’s so typical that the fritillaries are looking better than ever, but can only be viewed by peeping around all the building supplies! Oh well there’s always next year….